Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Lowers Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,309 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,145 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in Ecolab by 17.3% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% during the third quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,226,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $3.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $230.79. The stock had a trading volume of 398,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 932,740. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.49 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $65.35 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.68.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.